Breakthrough could connect quantum computers at 200 times longer distance

New research from University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering Asst. Prof. Tian Zhong could make it possible for quantum computers to connect at distances up to 1,243 miles, shattering previous records.
Photo Credit: Jason Smith

A new nanofabrication approach could increase the range of quantum networks from a few kilometers to a potential 2,000 km, bringing quantum internet closer than ever

Quantum computers are powerful, lightning-fast and notoriously difficult to connect to one another over long distances. 

Previously, the maximum distance two quantum computers could connect through a fiber cable was a few kilometers. This means that, even if such cable were run between them, quantum computers in downtown Chicago’s Willis Tower and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) on the South Side would be too far apart to communicate with each other. 

A delicate balance between growth hormone and stem cells

Andrei Chagin, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg.
Photo Credit: Magnus Gotander

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg can now demonstrate previously unexplained processes behind growth therapy. It involves hormonal mechanisms at the cellular level, with focus on a sensitive balance between stem cells and growth hormone. 

When children grow in length, it occurs from growth plates, a cartilage structure at both ends of the long bones found in the arms and legs. The growth plates contain special stem cells that continuously produce new cartilage cells, which are converted into bone tissue. 

In the case of growth disorders in children, with a height significantly below the average for their age and sex, injections of growth hormone are the most common treatment. In the development of growth hormone therapy, the University of Gothenburg has played a historically important role  

Previous research has shown that growth hormones act directly on the growth plate. However, it has been unclear which cells are targeted by growth hormones and how. 

Research proves life-saving frozen blood platelets safe to use

A bag of platelets being prepared for freezing.
Photo Credit: Australian Red Cross Lifeblood

Research has proven frozen blood platelets are safe and effective to use on critically injured patients – a breakthrough dramatically extending their shelf life for transfusions from one week to two years. 

The results of the decade-long University of Queensland and Australian Red Cross Lifeblood research collaboration will have positive implications for the international management of blood supplies and could save lives in remote areas and war zones. 

In a clinical trial with cardiac surgery patients, Director of UQ’s Greater Brisbane Clinical School Professor Michael Reade used platelets that had been frozen at -80 degrees Celsius and found they were only slightly less effective than liquid platelets and still stopped blood loss. 

Archaeologists use lasers to locate ancient settlements and artefacts on Greek Islands

The small island of Palatia off Naxos has been investigated by the researchers.
Photo Credit: The Small Cycladic Islands Project

The Cyclades are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece. Made up of more than 200 islands, the Cyclades attract millions of tourists each year for holidays on islands like Mykonos and Santorini. But recent studies have revealed that before the luxury villas took over the islands, the Cyclades have been home to humans in not only ancient Greece, but in prehistoric times as well. 

As part of several international teams, archaeologist Evan Levine from the University of Copenhagen is using groundbreaking technological methods such as LIDAR and magnetometry to shed new light on the archaeology of the Cycladic islands. 

Prognostic tool could help clinicians identify high-risk cancer patients

In a new study, MIT researchers and their collaborators identified a practical, powerful predictor that could help clinicians spot high-risk lymphoma patients early and tailor treatments to improve survival.
Image Credit: Scientific Frontline / stock image

Aggressive T-cell lymphoma is a rare and devastating form of blood cancer with a very low five-year survival rate. Patients often relapse after receiving initial therapy, making it especially challenging for clinicians to keep this destructive disease in check.

In a new study, researchers from MIT, in collaboration with researchers involved in the PETAL consortium at Massachusetts General Hospital, identified a practical and powerful prognostic marker that could help clinicians identify high-risk patients early, and potentially tailor treatment strategies to improve survival.

The team found that, when patients relapse within 12 months of initial therapy, their chances of survival decline dramatically. For these patients, targeted therapies might improve their chances for survival, compared to traditional chemotherapy, the researchers say.

How bacteria resist hostile attacks

Aggressor bacteria such as Acinetobacter baylyi (green) can rarely kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa (live cells in black, dying cells in cyan).
Image Credit: Alejandro Tejada-Arranz, Biozentrum, University of Basel

Some bacteria use a kind of molecular “speargun” to eliminate their rivals, injecting them with a lethal cocktail. Researchers at the University of Basel have now discovered that certain bacteria can protect themselves against these toxic attacks. But this defense comes with a surprising downside: it makes them more vulnerable to antibiotics. 

Countless bacterial species share cramped environments where competition for space and resources is fierce. Some rely on a molecular speargun to outcompete their opponents. One of them is Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It is widespread in nature but also notorious as a difficult-to-treat hospital pathogen. 

Pseudomonas can live peacefully in coexistence with other microbes. But when attacked by bacteria from a different species, it rapidly assembles its own nano-speargun – the so-called type VI secretion system (T6SS) – to inject its aggressor with a toxic cocktail. 

How can Pseudomonas strike back when it has already been hit by a deadly cocktail itself? The answer has now been uncovered by Professor Marek Basler’s team at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel and published in Nature Communications. 

SoMAS Study: Microplastics in Oceans Distort Carbon Cycle Understanding

Plastic items, such as this part of a swimming float (blue), are often seen at ocean shorelines. These products eventually break down into microplastics, which permeate the oceans and add to the distribution of carbon along with organic matter.
Photo Credit: Luis Medina.

A study by researchers in Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) shows that when microplastics are accidentally collected and measured with natural ocean organic particles, the carbon released by plastics during combustion appears as if it came from natural organic matter, which distorts scientists’ understanding of the ocean’s carbon cycle.

The carbon cycle in our oceans is critical to the balance of life in ocean waters and for reducing carbon in the atmosphere, a significant process to curbing climate change or global warming.

Microplastics are everywhere in the oceans. These small plastic fragments come from the breakdown of larger plastic items polluting the seas. Once they reach the sea through rivers, wastewater or runoff, they spread through coastal and open-ocean waters.

Jellyfish can be used to make mayonnaise and butter

Photo Credit: Marat Gilyadzinov

Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) have discovered that jellyfish can be used as a food stabiliser. In the future, the slimy creatures may become an important ingredient in a more sustainable food production system.

Food stabiliser.

The word might not sound particularly appetizing, but without food stabilizers, much of the food we eat would be impossible to make. It would not be able to retain its consistency or form but would split or spread out. 

Nature itself has created many stabilizers to maintain the structure of organisms, and over time, we humans have learned to use them in our food. 

The most well-known example in the home kitchen is egg yolk, which allows mayonnaise to bind together. In the industrial food sector, stabilizers are even more crucial. Here, ingredients such as starch, pectin, gelatine, and algal stabilizers are used to achieve the right consistency in everything from ketchup to chocolate milk. 

Temporary carbon removals can compensate warming from methane emissions

Photo Credit: Marita Kavelashvili

Carbon removal projects could prove vital in offsetting methane emissions – the second largest contributor to global warming. 

Nature-based schemes that aim to remove CO2 through methods such as afforestation and reforestation are criticized for being temporary – the carbon removed is often re-released once projects end – as well as fraught with risk.  

But climate change researchers have shown they can play an important role in neutralizing the environmental impact of methane. 

Methane and carbon dioxide behave differently over time: methane warms the planet much more rapidly than carbon dioxide, causing more damage in the short to medium term, but methane has little long-term impact on global temperatures as it dissipates over time.  

Molecular Biology: In-Depth Description

Image Credit: Scientific Frontline / AI Generated

Molecular biology is the branch of biology that studies the molecular basis of biological activity. It focuses on the chemical and physical structure of biological macromolecules—specifically nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and proteins—and how these molecules interact to regulate cell function, replication, and expression of genetic information. The primary goal of this field is to understand the intricate molecular machinery within a cell that governs life itself, from the synthesis of proteins to the regulation of gene expression.